Elsevier and Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) Establish ISTIC-Elsevier Journal Assessment Research Center

AMSTERDAM, September 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Research center to enhance China's opportunities in bibliometric research

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, and Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC), today announced the establishment and opening of the ISTIC-Elsevier Journal Assessment Research Center.

Based in Beijing, the mission of the ISTIC-Elsevier Journal Assessment Research Center is to enhance China's opportunities in bibliometric research. The research center will focus on identifying research topics of interest to both Elsevier and ISTIC, such as article level bibliometric analyses for measuring journal quality and research performance of individuals and institutions.  

Dr. Defang He, Director-General of ISTIC, said, "In order to further promote the process of globalization, the cooperation between the development, dissemination and use of scientific and technological information is very important. With Elsevier's full text resource, extensive databases and technical know-how, our research program and students will benefit from an expanded breadth of knowledge and resources."

In following their mission, the ISTIC-Elsevier Journal Assessment Research Center will use Elsevier's SciVal Spotlight, a web-based tool that enables countries and institutions to evaluate their research performance, measure their strengths against peers and establish and execute research strategies based on objective information, and Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. These Elsevier tools will help extract and integrate insights about China's research performance and advance journal assessment research and article-based analytics. In addition, Scopus data will be included in the ISTIC annual university research performance report.

"Working with ISTIC and having Scopus data in the ISTIC annual university research performance report is a significant recognition of the value of SciVal Spotlight and Scopus to the scientific community in China," said Elsevier's senior scientific advisor, Professor Henk Moed, appointed to represent Elsevier as Co-director of the research center. "The establishment of this center represents a key development in Elsevier's mission to establish global data metric standards for scientific research, and recognition of China's growth and increasing influence in academic research."

In addition to the ISTIC-Elsevier Journal Assessment Research Center, Elsevier and ISTIC will also establish an Expert Content Selection and Advisory Committee of China (ECSAC-China). The ECSAC-China board members will work closely with Elsevier to evaluate and select Chinese Journals to be submitted for evaluation by the Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB), the independent group that approves titles for Scopus indexing.

"We believe that the formation of ECSAC-China will play a crucial role in helping to establish processes and programs that will raise the standards and international visibility of Chinese journals," said Olivier Dumon, Managing Director A&G Research Markets at Elsevier. "Our collaboration with ISTIC and the creation of ECSAC-China serve to further our mission of supporting the global research community."

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About Institute of Scientific and Technological Information of China (ISTIC)

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) was founded in October, 1956 at the initiative of late Premier Chou En-lai. It is a national scientific and technical information service institute directly under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Now it consists of seven functional divisions, six operational centers and three corporations. Main areas of activities include: S&T information analysis and policy research; scientific and technical document services oriented towards various innovation entities; diffusion of new technologies and management of advanced S&T service platform; training and further education of information professionals; management of some learned societies; and book publishing. In addition, ISTIC shoulders the important mission of maintenance and development of the National Engineering and Technology Library. (http://www.istic.ac.cn)

About Scopus

Covering the world's research literature, Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Featuring smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research, Scopus was designed and developed with input from over 500 users and librarians internationally. Its unique database contains abstracts and references from nearly 19,500 peer-reviewed journals from more than 5,000 publishers worldwide, ensuring broad interdisciplinary coverage. In addition, Scopus not only offers users citation information about the articles covered, but also directly integrates Web and patent searches. Direct links to subscribed full-text articles, library resources and other applications like reference management software, make Scopus quicker, easier and more comprehensive to use than any other literature research tool.

About Elsevier's SciVal Suite

Designed to support the many stages of the research planning cycle, Elsevier's SciVal® suite of solutions and services provides critical information about research performance, funding and expertise to enable informed decision-making and drive successful outcomes. SciVal delivers the objective and analytical insight needed to maximize the performance of individuals, teams and organizations.

SciVal tools leverage Scopus® data, Elsevier's trusted source of bibliometric data, to offer innovative and authoritative solutions. Current offerings include: SciVal Spotlight, a strategic tool that generates unique institutional and country maps of existing and emerging research strengths based on an interdisciplinary perspective of current performance; SciVal Funding, a searchable database of funding opportunities and awarded grants; SciVal Strata, a research performance tool that offers users the flexibility to construct relevant contextual data to evaluate research teams or individual researchers, using a range of indicators based on Scopus data; and SciVal Experts, a semantic technology-based application that enables researchers and administrators to identify expertise and enable collaboration within the institution and across organizations.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

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